playing with alloys today...

Rangefinder · January 29, 2011, 04:46 PM

So there I was, minding my own business, thinking about ballistics, penetration, expansion, etc...

I've been playing with my BP and muzzle-stuffers a bit more again, and was curious as to the penetration and expansion factors on my 1851 Navy. So in true red-neck fashion, I headed out to the shop to "find out". Catch medium was dry phone books--dry because I wanted to see how the RB reacted--not what it did to the target. Cast three .451 balls. The one on the left is dead-soft, middle is dead-soft sweetened with a touch of tin only, the right is straight WW alloy. The charge was a mild 18gr. FFFg at a range of about 10 feet. Dead soft penetrated aprox. 1" before flattening and flowing into the page cracks. Tin added reached about 1 3/4" with less but visible flow into the page cracks. WW alloy took a little scuff on the nose and punched just shy of all the way through the first book at 2 1/2". Had I not had several books stacked to offer more resistance, the WW would have kept going.

Now for comparison I popped a few from a couple center-fires that I cast for. Back right is 93gr 32ACP from WW. It reached 2 1/2" with a little dent in the book behind it. Middle back is .40S&W 180gr. from WW. It reached apr. 4" with split pages in the dent at 5". Back left, just for fun is my .40S&W HD load--It's jacketed, modified HP, and I'm gonna leave it at that. It penetrated just over an inch to 1 1/2", and opened up to.912 across the widest point and retained 80% mass intact, and left a shredded crater to the back of the first book at 3" (it reacts a little different in soft tissue tests, but this was fun and interesting anyway).

This is what happens when I get a little bored and have a little time to kill...

Gerry · January 30, 2011, 05:20 PM

Hi, I represent a rights organization called PETPB (People for the Ethical Treatment of Phone Books) and I just wanted to say what you're doing is very, very wrong!

That being said, I'm surprised the WWs survived so well. Heck, you could almost use them again.

GP100man · January 30, 2011, 08:33 PM

Amazing what a little antimony does !!!

January 29, 2011, 04:46 PM	#1
Rangefinder Senior Member Join Date: August 4, 2005 Posts: 2,017	playing with alloys today... So there I was, minding my own business, thinking about ballistics, penetration, expansion, etc... I've been playing with my BP and muzzle-stuffers a bit more again, and was curious as to the penetration and expansion factors on my 1851 Navy. So in true red-neck fashion, I headed out to the shop to "find out". Catch medium was dry phone books--dry because I wanted to see how the RB reacted--not what it did to the target. Cast three .451 balls. The one on the left is dead-soft, middle is dead-soft sweetened with a touch of tin only, the right is straight WW alloy. The charge was a mild 18gr. FFFg at a range of about 10 feet. Dead soft penetrated aprox. 1" before flattening and flowing into the page cracks. Tin added reached about 1 3/4" with less but visible flow into the page cracks. WW alloy took a little scuff on the nose and punched just shy of all the way through the first book at 2 1/2". Had I not had several books stacked to offer more resistance, the WW would have kept going. Now for comparison I popped a few from a couple center-fires that I cast for. Back right is 93gr 32ACP from WW. It reached 2 1/2" with a little dent in the book behind it. Middle back is .40S&W 180gr. from WW. It reached apr. 4" with split pages in the dent at 5". Back left, just for fun is my .40S&W HD load--It's jacketed, modified HP, and I'm gonna leave it at that. It penetrated just over an inch to 1 1/2", and opened up to.912 across the widest point and retained 80% mass intact, and left a shredded crater to the back of the first book at 3" (it reacts a little different in soft tissue tests, but this was fun and interesting anyway). This is what happens when I get a little bored and have a little time to kill... __________________ "Why is is called Common Sense when it seems so few actually possess it?" Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Politicians.

January 30, 2011, 08:33 PM	#3
GP100man Senior Member Join Date: August 1, 2007 Location: Tabor City , NC. Posts: 1,969	Amazing what a little antimony does !!! __________________ GP100man

January 30, 2011, 05:20 PM	#2
Gerry Senior Member Join Date: December 24, 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 382	Hi, I represent a rights organization called PETPB (People for the Ethical Treatment of Phone Books) and I just wanted to say what you're doing is very, very wrong! That being said, I'm surprised the WWs survived so well. Heck, you could almost use them again.